Rare whisky is a liquid nugget of whisky history

For brilliant recipes, the best of local produce, fresh ideas and insight, subscribe to our weekly Food and Drink Newsletter.

Thank you for signing up to our Food and Drink Newsletter.

Something went wrong - please try again later.

I have frequently commented in this column on how prices of whiskies from lost distilleries have skyrocketed in recent years as a combination of increasing rarity and speculation have driven prices through the roof.

That came home to me in spades a few weeks back with the unveiling of a special bottling of Littlemill, a rather forgotten Lowland distillery on the north bank of the Clyde. Interestingly, it sat just south of the so-called Highland Line (which determined whether it was a Lowland or Highland whisky) at Bowling near Dumbarton. After a fraught last few years with a few changes of ownership, it finally folded in 1997. Sadly, the buildings caught fire in 2004 and the site is now private housing.

Anyway, some four or five years ago I can vividly recall buying bottles of 12-year-old Littlemill from my favourite bootlegger for about £29 each. Obviously, the bottles had sat there a long time, possibly largely ignored on his shelves for years on end.

Anyway, some whisky website suddenly realised that cheap bottles of Littlemill were lying ignored and unappreciated in off-licences across Scotland and urged anyone with spare mazooma to go out and buy them. The price of Littlemill doubled and then quadrupled within a few weeks and the whisky virtually vanished soon after that.

Until now. Loch Lomond, the final inheritors of Littlemill, some weeks ago announced they were now marketing a special ultra-rare 40-year-old bottling of Littlemill. Only 250 bottles are available at (hold on to your hats) £6,000 a bottle. I shall now hold on to my last bottle of 12-year-old with renewed determination.

It is some years since I drank Littlemill but I recall it as a pleasant lowland malt with a dry, slightly nutty finish. The bottles were plain glass with unobtrusive labels inside a yellow-beige cardboard cylinder. So, a spot of advice: if on holiday abroad you spot a bottle in a dusty Spanish bodega or French cave de vins et spiritueux at a reasonable price, go for it. However, I reckon you have more chances of winning Euromillions.

Anyway, if you have a spare £6,000 and want to buy a liquid nugget of whisky history, there may be the odd Littlemill bottle still unsold.

Help support quality local journalism … become a digital subscriber to The Courier

For as little as £5.99 a month you can access all of our content, including Premium articles.